US tennis champion Serena Williams announced on Tuesday that she has “started the countdown” to her retirement from the sport.
Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam winner, added that a time has come in her life to move in a different direction.
The 40-year-old said in an Instagram post that she needs to focus on being a mother and achieving her spiritual growth.
She wrote: “There comes a time in life when we have to decide to move in a different direction. That time is always hard when you love something so much. God, I love tennis. But now, the countdown has begun .
“I have to focus on being a mom, my spiritual goals, and finally discovering a different, but exciting Serena. I’m going to enjoy these next few weeks.”
In an exclusive piece for Vogue magazine, Williams noted that she had never liked the word “retirement” but would rather go with the word “evolution.”
She said: “I’ve never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me. I’ve been thinking about it as a transition, but I want to be sensitive about how I use that word, which means something very specific and important to a community of people.
“Maybe the best word to describe what I’m doing is evolution. I am here to tell you that I am evolving from tennis to other things that are important to me.
“A few years ago I quietly started Serena Ventures, a venture capital company. Soon after I started a family. I want to grow this family.”
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